Special Educational Needs

Townfield Primary School SENCo - Miss E Owen

Current SEN Information September 2017 to be reviewed September 2018 - Written in conjunction with parents.

At Townfield Primary School we are a fully inclusive school who ensures that all pupils achieve their potential personally, socially, emotionally and academically in all areas of the curriculum regardless of their gender, ethnicity, social background, religion, physical ability or special educational needs, (SEN).

This document is intended to give you information regarding the ways in which we ensure we support all of our pupils, including those with SEN, in order that they can realise their full potential. At Townfield Primary School we ensure that all of our classrooms are dyslexia friendly. It is part of our whole school policy to provide visual timetables in all classrooms to support children with ASC. We may not list every skill, resource and technique we employ in order to achieve this, as these are continually developed and used to modify our provision, to meet the changing requirements for individual pupils.

Children are identified as having SEN when their progress has slowed or stopped and the interventions, resources etc. put in place do not enable improvement. Once this occurs, we have specific needs-based plans and pupil profiles which help support their development and accelerate progress. Children at Townfield make good progress and achieve in line with other schools nationally with SEN. Other useful documents such as our SEN/Inclusion policy and our Disability Equality Scheme and Access Plan are available on the school website. If you would like any further information about what we offer here at Townfield then please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

Children and Families Bill 2013

The Children and Families Bill takes forward the Coalition Government’s commitments to improve services for vulnerable children and support strong families. It underpins wider reforms to ensure that all children and young people can succeed, no matter what their background. The Bill will reform the systems for adoption, looked after children, family justice and special educational needs.

The Government is transforming the system for children and young people with SEN, including those who are disabled, so that services consistently support the best outcomes for them. The Bill will extend the SEN system from birth to 25, giving children, young people and their parents/carers greater control and choice in decisions and ensuring needs are properly met.

It takes forward the reform programme set out in Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability: Progress and next steps by:

Replacing statements and learning difficulty assessments with a new birth- to-25 Education Health and Care Plan, extending rights and protections to young people in further education and training and offering families personal budgets so that they have more control over the support they need;

Improving cooperation between all the services that support children and their families and particularly requiring local authorities and health authorities to work together;

Requiring local authorities to involve children, young people and parents in reviewing and developing provision for those with special educational needs and to publish a ‘local offer’ of support.

SEN Policy

The Local Offer was first introduced in the Green Paper (March 2011) as a local offer of all services available to support disabled children and children with SEN and their families. This easy to understand information will set out what is normally available in schools to help children with lower-level SEN as well as the options available to support families who need additional help to care for their child.

What will it do?

The Wirral framework will allow the Local Offer to provide parents/carers with information about how to access services in their area, and what they can expect from those services. With regard to Education, it will let parents/ carers and young people know how school and colleges will support them, and what they can expect across the local settings. During the last year, the Local Offer Steering Group has developed questions for schools, and trialled them with a small number of settings.

There are 14 questions, devised in consultation with parents/carers and other agencies, which reflect their concerns and interests. These will be answered by agencies, schools and colleges to provide information to parents and carers to enable them to make decisions about how to best support their child’s needs.

What should I do if I think my child may have special educational needs?

If you have concerns then your first contact should be your child’s teacher and then the SENCo.

How will I know how Townfield Primary School will support my child?

Class teachers are responsible for:

Ensuring that all children have access to good/outstanding teaching and that the curriculum is adapted to meet your child’s individual needs (also known as differentiation);

Checking on the progress of your child and identifying, planning and delivering any additional help your child may need (this could be things like targeted work, additional support, adapting resources etc..) and discussing amendments with the SENCo as necessary;

Writing Individual Education Plans (IEP), and sharing and reviewing these with parents at least once each term and planning for the next term;

Ensuring that all members of staff working with your child in school are aware of your child’s individual needs and/or conditions and what specific adjustments need to be made to enable them to be included and make progress;

Ensuring that all staff working with your child in school are supported in delivering the planned work/programme for your child, so they can achieve the best possible progress. This may involve the use of additional adults, outside specialist help and specially planned work and resources;

Ensuring that the school’s Special educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Policy is followed in their classroom and for all the pupils they teach with any SEND.

The SENCo is responsible for:

Coordinating all the support for children with SEN, and developing the school’s SEND Policy to make sure all children get a consistent, high quality response to meeting their needs in school.

Ensuring that you are:

involved in supporting your child’s learning;

kept informed about the support your child is receiving;

involved in reviewing how they are progressing;

fully involved planning ahead for them.

Liaising with all the other people who may be coming into school to help support your child’s learning e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Educational Psychology etc...

Updating the school’s SEND record of need, (a system for ensuring all the special educational, physical and sensory needs of pupils in this school are known and understood) and making sure that there are excellent records of your child’s progress and needs;

Providing specialist support for teachers and support staff in the school so they can help your child (and other pupils with SEN and/or disabilities in the school) to achieve their potential;

Organising training for staff so they are aware and confident about how to meet the needs of your child and others within our school.

The SEND Governor will be responsible for:

Making sure that the school has an up to date SEND Policy;

Making sure that the school has appropriate provision and has made necessary adaptations to meet the needs of all children in the school;

Making sure that the necessary support is made for any child who attends the school who has SEN and/or disabilities;

Making visits to understand and monitor the support given to children with SEND in the school and being part of the process to ensure your child achieves his/her potential in school.

What support does Townfield Primary School offer children on the SEND register?

If a pupil has needs related to more specific areas of their education, such as spelling, handwriting, numeracy & literacy skills etc. then the pupil will be placed in a small focus group. This will be run by the teacher or teaching assistant. The length of time of the intervention will vary according to need but will generally be for a term. The interventions will be regularly reviewed by all involved to ascertain the effectiveness of the provision and to inform future planning;

These interventions will be recorded on the pupil’s provision map (this is a record of the interventions, timings, cost and impact of the intervention), a copy of which will be sent home each term. If you have any queries related to the interventions please do not hesitate to contact the class teacher or SENCo;

In addition to interventions during the school day, Townfield Primary School offers focused teaching of Literacy and Numeracy outside of their usual classroom time for children who are significantly below before or after school;

Pupil Progress Meetings are held each term. This is a meeting where the class teacher meets with their Team Leader, a member of the Senior Leadership Team to discuss the progress of the pupils in their class. This shared discussion may highlight any potential problems in order for further support to be planned which will be discussed and implemented by the SENCo;

Occasionally a pupil may need more expert support from an outside agencies such as Orrets Meadow, a programme which is delivered within school from one of our Teaching Assistants;

Sometimes children need to be referred to outside agencies for further assessment we work closely with the Educational Psychologist, Speech And Language Therapist (SALT), Occupational Therapist (OT), Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC team) and Paediatricians. Referral forms are then completed in conjunction with parents/carers and forwarded to the most appropriate agency. After a series of assessments, a programme of support is usually provided to the school and parents/carers;

When a pupil has been identified with special needs their work will be differentiated by the class teacher to enable them to access the curriculum more easily;

Teaching Assistants may be allocated to work with the pupil in a 1-1 or small focus group to target more specific needs;

If appropriate specialist equipment may be given to the pupil e.g. writing slopes, concentration cushions, pen/pencils grips or easy to use scissors.

How will I know how my child is doing?

You will be able to discuss your child’s progress at Parents Evenings with their class teacher;

Appointments will be made each term for you to speak in more detail to the SENCo and Headteacher ;

Report cards are sent home each half term. Targets are set by the class teacher.

How will you help me to support my child’s learning?

The SENCo may meet with you to discuss how to support your child;

The class teacher will meet with you to discuss strategies to use if there are problems with a child’s behaviour/emotional needs;

If outside agencies or the Educational Psychologist have been involved suggestions and programmes of study are normally provided that can be used at home.

Our school nurse works closely with pupils, parents, carers and teachers, offering support and advice on a range of issues. She plays a vital role in children’s development, carrying out screening programmes, managing medical conditions and acting as a point of contact on child protection issues.

Educational Psychologist

Our educational psychologist helps children who are experiencing problems within school with the aim of enhancing their learning. Challenges may include social or emotional problems or learning difficulties. Work is with individual children or groups, advising teachers, parents, social workers and other professionals. Work involves an assessment of the child using observation, interviews and test materials. Educational psychologists offer a wide range of appropriate interventions, such as learning programmes and collaborative work with teachers or parents. They also provide in-service training for teachers and other professionals on issues such as behaviour and stress management.

SENAAT (Special Educational Needs Assessment Advice Team)

Our member of the SENAAT team is trained to undertake a wide range of diagnostic tests to support our school in the identification of children with special educational needs and consequent decisions about their support and provision (including staff training), 1:1 assessments are carried out.

Speech Therapy

Speech and language therapists (SALTs) work closely with children who have various levels of speech, language and communication problems, and with those who have swallowing, drinking or eating difficulties. Therapists assess a child’s needs before developing individual treatment programmes to enable each child to improve as much as possible. Treatment plans often involve other people with whom the child has a close relationship, e.g. family, carers or teachers. SALTs usually work as part of a multidisciplinary team, alongside other health professionals such as doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. They may also liaise with professionals in education and social services.

Vision and Hearing Support

Wirral Council's Sensory Service aims to ensure that deaf and visually impaired children and young people (0-19 years) receive an appropriate inclusive education that enables them to fulfil their potential and develop into independent adults.

The core work of the Sensory Service is to provide training, advice and support for school staff to:

enable students to develop specialist skills eg Braille, to help them access the curriculum independently;

monitor progress of pupils to ensure that student’s individual needs are met, in accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act ;

At Townfield Primary School we have our own Hearing Support Base where children with hearing impairments are supported with a Teacher of the Deaf and specially trained Teaching Assistants. The children are integrated within the school but given 1:1 sessions to support their learning. All children throughout the school are taught British Sign Language.

Multicultural Ethnic Advisory Service ( MEAS)

MEAS staff work in Primary and Secondary schools throughout Wirral.

The service aims to raise achievement, remove language barriers, provide access to the curriculum, raise self-esteem and encourage social integration.

MEAS staff:

assess pupils learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) from Foundation Stage to Year 11;

act as consultants within schools to enable staff to meet the needs of pupils effectively ;

provide direct teaching support for prioritised pupils;

work with parents and the wider community;

provide training centrally and school based on: Race Equality, Community Cohesion and EAL.  support the admission of new arrivals including refugee, Gypsy Roma and Irish traveller pupils ;

give advice on embedding race equality through the curriculum and advise on materials that promote a greater understanding of ethnic diversity and racial equality.

Gilbrook Outreach Team

The Gilbrook Outreach Team work with colleagues in primary schools to support the management of children with challenging behaviour within their own schools. To enable pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties to be supported within their mainstream schools. Gilbrook Outreach is committed to focusing on preventative work to ensure that needs are identified as quickly as possible and that early action is taken to meet those needs. Developing approaches that embed co-operative

multi-disciplinary working between all agencies.

Typical work activities include:

Promoting an understanding of the context and environment which effect the child’s well being;

Observing children in the contexts in which they play and learn;

Assessments/interviews with children to gain understanding as to why the problem behaviours are being exhibited;

Developing and supporting strategies to improve behaviour - providing ‘in class’ modelling and support when required;

Writing recommendations on action to be taken and contributing professional advice ;

Attending meetings involving multi-disciplinary teams, and parents/carers, on how to best meet the social, emotional and behavioural needs of the child.

Orrets Meadow Outreach

Orrets provide the mentoring of a teaching assistant and oversee four pupils. The teaching assistant is a member of the school staff. They will spend approximately three half hour sessions with each pupil each week. Pupils are chosen through the school’s own screening procedures. Pupil’s attendance, support at home, and general attitude to learning are generally considered. The OMS teacher with the teaching assistant will carry out an initial assessment. The teacher will then write targets for each child. Copies of targets will be given to the parents, SENCo teaching assistant, and class teacher.

Social Communication Team ( ASC TEAM)

To advise and support schools staff on specific and appropriate targets and strategies for pupils with diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Asperger Syndrome or with Social and Communication Difficulties;

The role of the Occupational Therapist (OT) is to work with children who have difficulties with the practical and social skills necessary for their everyday life. An Occupational Therapist will aim to enable the child to be as physically, psychologically and socially independent as possible.

Portage/Portex

Wirral Portage Service provides support and guidance to parents primarily in their own homes. It serves the youngest, most disabled children on the Wirral and provides individualised programmes of learning. Portage workers can support children into school/settings with transition plans and offer advice to parents re a variety of issues to support the process. Wirral Portage Service takes place in the child’s home in partnership with the parents who are recognised as their children’s primary educators and facilitators of their overall development. It is part of the SESS team and close partnerships are forged with all those working in the early years’ sector. As part of the 1st 4 Families virtual team, we are committed to the delivery of a high quality service to the youngest most disabled children and families in Wirral.

Child and Adolescent Meatal Health Service (CAMHS)

Are a team of specially trained workers whose job it is to improve the mental health of children and young people by helping them with aspects of life that make them worried, upset or angry. They can help when a child's behaviour, thoughts and feelings become difficult for them to cope with.

Catholic Children's Society

A dedicated team of experienced staff and volunteers, with excellent knowledge of local services and support network deliver our Family Support Service. They work together in partnership to provide a multi-agency approach. The team will work with you to make sure you have all the support you need, delivered in a way that best suits your family situation. They are non-judgemental and will challenge, support and provide a service that best meets the needs of you and your family. The benefits to you and your family include: improved self esteem, better communication of feelings and thoughts of knowing how to look for compromise and keep each other safe, increased confidence in dealing with difficult and risky situations, seeing your children and young people happy, motivated and achieving, feeling better – both mentally and physically and less reliance on outside services – but the awareness of how and when to access them.

Doctors / Paediatricians

Paediatricians are doctors who look at specific health issues, diseases and disorders related to stages of growth and development. This is an area of medicine where the doctor works closely with the patient and their family.

What support will there be for my child's overall well-being?

The school offers a wide variety of pastoral support for pupils who are encountering emotional difficulties, these include:

A social skills group is run in both Key Stages. Time to Talk is used in KS1 and Socially Speaking is used in KS2;

We have a full time Learning Mentor who is available to support the children throughout the day with their individual needs;

We have Pressure Point who works with both children and parents who need extra support;

Seasons for Growth is a programme which helps children who have experienced changes within their life, to cope with the change;

Pupils who find lunchtimes a struggle are encouraged to join our Townfield Active Playtime Scheme (TAPS) where fun games and activities are made available to help provide the pupils with social skills to enable them to form friendships.

How will my child be included in activities and trips?

Activities and school trips are available to all wherever possible. We will work closely with parents/guardians and medical professionals to ensure all children are included not to the detriment of their or others' safety.

Risk assessments are carried out and procedures are put in place to enable all children to participate.However, if it is deemed that an intensive level of 1:1 support is required then a teaching assistant will be assigned to support the child during the activity.

How accessible is the school environment?

As a school we are happy to discuss individual access requirements.

Some examples of the accessibility arrangements include:

Ramps are fitted around school making all areas accessible to wheelchairs;

Lifts are installed within school to ensure access for all;

Disabled toilets and changing facilities.

The school is completely compliant with the Discrimination and Disabilities Act of 2005

Pupils with medical needs

If a pupil has a medical need then a detailed Health Care Plan is compiled by the SENCo in consultation with parents/carers. These are discussed with all staff who are involved with the child;

All staff will receive basic First Aid training in addition to those that are already fully trained;

All relevant staff will be trained if a child has a specific need e.g. feeding, oxygen administration etc;

Where necessary and in agreement with parents/carers, medicines are administered in school but only where a signed Medication agreement in line with the medication policy is in place to ensure the safety of both child and staff member.

How will my child be supported on entering or leaving Townfield Primary School?

Townfield Primary School understands what a stressful time moving schools can be, therefore, many strategies are in place to enable the pupil’s transition to be as smooth as possible.

These include:

Meetings between the previous or receiving schools prior to the pupil joining/leaving;

All children have a transition fortnight at the end of the Summer Term where they spend the time with their new class teacher;

The SENCo is always willing to meet parents/carers prior to their child joining the school;

Additional visits to secondary schools are arranged by the SENCo for pupils who need extra time in their new school;

Secondary school staff visit pupils prior to them joining their new school;

The TPS SENCo meets the SENCo from the secondary schools to pass on information regarding SEN pupils;

Where a pupil may have more specialised needs, a separate meeting is arranged with the TPS SENCo, the secondary school SENCo, the parents/carers and where appropriate the pupil.

SEN Resources

How are the school’s resources allocated and matched to children’s special educational needs?

The Headteacher decides on the budget for SEND in consultation with school governors, on the basis of need in the school;

The SEN budget is allocated each financial year. The money is used to provide additional support or resources dependent on an individual’s needs;

The additional provision may be allocated after discussion with the class teacher, the SENCO, medical professionals and the child’s parents, at pupil progress meetings or if a concern has been raised by them at another time during the year;

If any concerns are raised on completion of the assessments the SENCo will investigate further support or advice from outside agencies if required;

Individual Pupil Premium payments are used to support pupil learning.

How will I be involved in discussions about the planning for my child's education?

All parents are encouraged to contribute to their child’s education through:

Discussions with the class teacher;

During parents evenings;

Comments on half termly report cards;

During discussions with the SENCo or other professionals;

Parents are encouraged to comment on their child’s Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) with their suggestions of how their child could be best supported.

Who can I contact for further information?

If you wish to discuss your child’s educational needs please contact:

Your child's class teacher

The SENCo

The Deputy Headteacher

The Headteacher.

How should complaints regarding SEN provision be made and how will they be dealt with?

The school follows the Local Authority procedure for dealing with complaints. If parents/carers of a child with SEN have a complaint they should arrange a meeting with the SENCO who will aim to resolve the issue, if necessary involving the Head Teacher. More complex issues may be referred to the Parent Partnership service. If still dissatisfied, parents would have the right to address the school's SEN Governor for consideration of their case by the Governing Body.

SEN Governor - Mrs Carroll.

How do Townfield Primary School involve children and young people in their education and in the decision making process?

Townfield Primary involves children in their learning through the assertive mentoring target setting process. The class teacher consults children with a special educational need on a half termly basis to review their work and discuss what the next steps are. Children then agree targets to work on for the half term. These targets are shared with parents and where necessary other professionals. The class teacher discusses with the child any intervention program they are to access to help overcome their barrier to learning prior to the child starting in the intervention.

How do Townfield Primary School prevent bullying and support a child's overall well-being?

Townfield Primary offers support for communication and interaction, cognition and learning, social and emotional and physical needs. Our school has a Learning Mentor who has regular timetabled slots to work either 1:1 or in small groups with children with social and emotional difficulties. Buddy/friendship groups are set up to support children with issues regarding peers.

There are many clubs offered during lunchtime and after school to support children who find social times challenging or who need to consolidate new learning/skills.

How do we evaluate the effectiveness of the provision made for children with SEN?

Monitoring progress is an integral part of teaching and leadership at Townfield Primary School. Parents/Carers, children and staff are involved in reviewing the impact of interventions for learners with SEN. We follow the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ model and ensure that parents/cares and children are involved in each step.

• Children’s progress is continually monitored by their class teacher.

• We collect pupil progress data for every child every half term which is then scrutinised. Half termly progress meetings are held between the class teacher and SENCo to review all children’s progress. Further meetings are arranged by the school SENCo and the SLT within school to review children’s progress.

• Parents/Carers and children are involved in reviewing progress termly through the progress meetings and the child’s view form. Discussions take place about their child including whether further provision needs to be considered, their child’s needs need to be continually assessed using the graduated response or their child is making progress against national/age expected levels and sufficient progress has been made so that they no longer require SEN Support.

• A baseline assessment is taken at the start and at the end of any additional provision/intervention in order to evaluate the effectiveness and impact. Interventions are monitored by the child’s class teacher and SENCo through the class profile. Short term interventions will not last more than 6 weeks, if the child is not demonstrating progress.

• Additional meetings with parents/carers are available throughout the school year with our school’s SENCo to discuss individual children’s needs.

The Base staff support the children who are Deaf on a ‘needs led basis’, allowing flexible systems of support to meet each individual child’s needs. With the capacity to support 11 Deaf children who have an EHCP and are situated in Foundation Two through to Year Six. The Base staff work in collaboration with a range of professionals successfully to provide the best possible education and care for the children under their supervision.

The Deaf children are at the heart of the Base and learning and teaching strategies are matched to individual needs. We are highly inclusive of all children, irrespective of their needs and ability, and continuously assess to inform our planning to ensure teaching and learning meets pupil’s needs through a high level of differentiation. All pupils have highly focused Individual Education Plans which pupils work towards achieving, in all areas of the curriculum. We expect children to be actively involved in their learning and we aim to equip all Deaf children to become lifelong learners. All pupils who attend the Base receive quality teaching and we ensure appropriate classroom learning environments match the needs of the pupils. Staff are highly trained and skilled in working with Deaf children as well as a wide range of learning difficulties and disabilities.

Deaf pupils are fully integrated into their mainstream classes. They attend the Base every morning to have their hearing aid/cochlear implant equipment checked and to socialise with each their Deaf peers. Once these activities have occurred, the pupils move to their mainstream classes with their support staff to start their daily routines. Daily, the Teacher of the Deaf teaches a group of hearing and deaf pupils for English and Maths in the Base; tailoring the schemes of work to needs of the pupils.

British Sign Language (BSL) is our modern foreign language and is taught weekly to all pupils from Foundation Two through to year six. It is our intention that by the time pupils reach Year Six they will have enough signing skills for them to successfully undertake, and pass, BSL level 1. This is a lifelong, nationally recognised qualification. These skills also allow all pupils, both Deaf and hearing, to communicate on a social level throughout the school day and in the wider community.

All pupils supported by the Base have, in-house, weekly access to Speech and Language Therapy led by Wirral’s Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist. In addition to this all pupils attend varying levels of British Sign Language tuition from Wirral’s Deaf tutor, aiming to provide all Deaf pupils with their BSL level 1 certificate by the end of Year Six.